Set-up a Business PayPal Account and Start Selling Sooner

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Starting a business can be one of the most exciting times of your life. Sure, it can be a little stressful but most of the time you will undoubtedly experience a thrill that can be hard to explain at dinner parties but gives you the rush to keep everything on your ‘to-do’ list moving.

Running your business comes with many decisions that you will need to make and chances are you will need an easy and reliable way to invoice your customers and/or clients. Offering a trustworthy payment method makes using your business that much easier for your customers, so it’s important to get it right.

If the above description has hit the nail on the head, then you don’t need to look much further than PayPal. PayPal is quick, provides lots of online tools, is trusted and most importantly- it’s available anywhere you have access to WIFI. PayPal has come a long way in recent years and is not just used for safely purchasing items of eBay – contrary to popular belief.

Follow the below guide to learn just how easy it is to set up a PayPal account for your business.

Step 1: Create your PayPal account
Setting up your PayPal account is quick and easy. It’s free to sign up, it doesn’t matter which account you select. PayPal generally runs by accepting commissions for all payments you receive as well as currency conversion fees.

Step 2 – Start your Application

To continue with the set-up of your PayPal account, PayPal asked for quite a few details to verify your business and the individuals associated with it. There is nothing to worry about here, it is just one of the many ways PayPal can keep to their commitment of providing a safe place for transactions – for all parties involved.

The below are the type of details you need to provide and have ready to create your Paypal Account (PayPal may at times require further details):

Personal information:

  • Your address
  • Your full name
  • Your email address
  • Your phone numbers

 

Business information:

  • The address of your primary place of business and registered office (if applicable).
  • How your business is structured (e.g. sole trader, proprietary company, etc).
  • The Website Address or Facebook Web Address
  • ABN and/or ACN
  • Legal business name and trading name (if applicable)

 

Business contacts details:

  • Names of any applicable business contacts (e.g. company directors, chairpersons, treasurer, secretary, etc).
  • Names and addresses for any beneficial owners.
  • Names, addresses and dates of birth for any partners.
  • Name, address and date of birth of the primary authorised user of the account

 

If you’re applying on behalf of a trust, PayPal will also need:

  • Trust name and type
  • Details of the trust beneficiaries.
  • A copy of the trust deed. (PayPal will ask for this once your application has been accepted)

 

Once you have filled out all of the above details, you just need to accept and agree to PayPal’s User Agreement, Privacy Policy, Combined Financial Services Guide and any other incorporated policies. These policies may be updated at times, and PayPal will send you an email communication to let you know.

Your PayPal account has been successfully created.

Once you have completed the above mentioned steps, you can use your account straight away and this means you can begin immediately customising your PayPal payment preferences.

How do you want to receive payments?

PayPal has several options to choose from. You can choose one, or you choose them all. Choosing the right method will open up features that will most suit the type of business activities you will be conducting. PayPal is also very helpful and point you to the option/s that suit you most and you can always change your preferences at any time if your business circumstances change.

The options include:

  • On your website
  • With online invoicing
  • On eBay
  • In person

To finalise your set-up there are some more things you need to do but are all quite simple and easy to manage with a little bit of quiet time and a cup of tea at hand. You don’t need to do them all at once but it is good to get them out of the way so you don’t need to worry about it later on.

Things to note to finalise your business set-up:

  • You will need to confirm your email address – head over to your inbox and click the provided link. If there is no email there, check your Spam Folder (You will need to confirm this before you can accept payments).
  • Link your bank accounts – link your bank account so your PayPal account knows where to send money when you wish to withdraw or make payments.
  • PayPal may initially limit the amount of money you can transfer from your PayPal account until you’ve verified your linked bank account or credit card, so it’s a good idea to do this as soon as you can.
  • Make your business name clear for customers. In your account set up, you can add your logo as well name your PayPal account that your customers will recognise on their bank statements as well as in their email invoices.

 

Setting up your PayPal may be a daunting concept but it really is a simple process that’s very much worthwhile. It’s important to remember that PayPal is a big enterprise and is trusted by millions of people all over the world so there are lots of resources and help available if you need it.

 

 

Your Google marketing plans, what now, what next?

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Once upon a time a big advertisement in the phone book was the new business investment that kept giving all year. Everyone used the phone book, at home, school, work and 20 years ago it was a good as being on the front page of Google.

Then 10 years ago this search tool called Google meant that you could ask any question, from any computer and get a list of results that were ranked by how relevant they were to what you had searched for. The opportunity to solve life problems with a few clicks, and get business the same way was an insanely powerful idea.

Implementing successful SEO strategies for customers even just 5 years ago required skill and strategy but most importantly it was financially viable for companies of all shapes, sizes and industries. Results were relatively immediate in comparison to today.

Then a few things changed in the SEO landscape in the last few years:

  • The sheer number of companies competing for the front page increase significantly
  • Google invested heavily in changing their search algorithms according to the  mechanics of how a website works, not just the content in the site
  • Everyone started using their mobiles for search, not just their desktops or laptops

 

The net result is that it takes more hours, more site tweaks and a larger investment than in past. It is still a great long term marketing strategy but in place of SEO as a single marketing strategy has come the targeted marketing on in places that make the most sense for your business.

If you need final confirmation on why you should be on social media, its because its where you can cost-effectively reach your customers. We don’t advocate a scatter gun approach, we think you should get on the platform that gives you the best opportunity to reach your target market.

Facebook – over a billion users, it is a fantastic place to reach the end consumer where they are, at the times that they will be thinking about buying your products

LinkedIn – More than 250 million business professionals, this is where you connect to the people you already know, so that you can connect to the people they know. There is no better place to get an introduction to a company by networking with one of their employees.

You Tube – The power of this personal video streaming platform should not be underestimated. We all use it and we are happy to view an ad for the sake of it being free so why not consider this opportunity to pull in customers.

These platforms don’t just allow you to create your own targeted ads, they allow you to sponsor content you have put together so the sales approach can be softer where it needs to be.

As a final summary point, Google SEO and PPC (paid advertising) are still incredibly powerful marketing strategies. But investing in advertising on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and others allows you to cost-effectively apply your marketing strategy and get quick answers on what works best and then refine and repeat.

DIY SEO Tips

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Excited and terrified by SEO at the same time? Are you wondering how to do SEO yourself? Are you just wondering what SEO stands for and really is? You have come to the right place!

A lot more people and companies are up to speed with SEO, or search engine optimisation, and are looking to drive traffic from the top ranks of Google (and Bing) to their website. A lot of that education is driven by Google themselves as their search algorithm (see techniques) changes are happening more frequently and forcing people to take action on websites that don’t make the Google grade.

In general Google’s intent has been the same over the years, to drive the most relevant and user-friendly websites to the top of a given search does benefit us end consumers.

But how can your business stay on track with what Google does without breaking the bank? Here are three important tips for staying up to date with SEO:

1. Read up, regularly – There is not enough space in this blog to list out all of the great, informative resources for SEO but we can get enough of Hubspot, Smart Company (especially Jim Stewart’s Thursday blog) and why not try Google themselves?

2. Give to Get – You may have an awesome website but in this day and age is about giving out information and tools in order to get business. In the biz its called inbound marketing based on knowing that customers will have up to 7 different points of contact with you before they choose you and you need to mix up that contact. A useful blog, a white paper giving them information and decision criteria, a how-to video, its all relevant and you should try and make it as personal as possible.

3. Continue (or start) investing in your social media profile – related to the points of contact but also to your search relevancy, establishing and marketing your business on relevant social media channels is a must. Customers and Google need to find you on more than just your website to attribute credibility.

As a digital marketers we couldn’t be happier that people are proactively seeking out information, wanting to get more involved. We also think it’s wise to remove full dependency on Google search entirely and consider customised paid advertising campaigns on relevant social media channels too, for more information click here.

FROLO Explained

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There has been significant upheaval in the restaurant online ordering space in the last 12 months, companies have merged, companies have been bought out for hundreds of millions of dollars and some have gone out of business.

We can’t predict exactly what will happen to aggregated online ordering sites but we can explain a new phrase, FROLO, that has popped up.

FROLO stands for free restaurant online ordering and that in itself sounds pretty good, who doesn’t love free?

Please read the fine print though because what FROLO vendors offer is not free. You pay to build your own online ordering website and you have a flat monthly support cost to host the website.

This is the nature of all websites, pay for the expertise to have your site built and then while you are happy with the service continue to pay for your website to be hosted, supported and secured.

The “free” part of FROLO is that no commission is charged for each order, and that is a great idea. In fact its such a great idea we thought of it back in 2008 and have been building and hosting restaurant online ordering sites since then, NEVER charging a commission on sales.

The online ordering industry is ripe for a shakeup and we think this will be good for restaurant owners across Australia. We will continue building custom, feature-packed online ordering websites that never tax your profits – how good is that?’,